The age of the self-indulgent 'explorer' is over – true adventurers are scientists

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As the first crackle of thunder reverberated around me I knew I needed to act fast. A bolt of lightning followed almost immediately, too quickly for me to find a safe landing point and get off the water.

It was the first day of The Hudson Project, my mission to solo paddleboard the entire tidal Hudson River in New York – all 170 miles of it – and the latest in a series of ‘adventures with purpose’ I had undertaken to draw attention to the global plastic crisis.

In one hand I was holding a carbon fiber paddle – a known conductor of electricity – and in the other I was clutching a walkie-talkie desperately trying to make contact with the logistics team positioned some three miles downstream at...

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